Liberating Planet Earth

9
THE LIBERATION OF THE ECONOMY
You shall not steal (Exodus 20:15).
The economy is not a covenant institution. It does not require
the swearing of a self-valedictory oath, nor are such oaths allowable
in business dealings. 1 The economy is primarily an outgrowth
of the family, though unmarried persons can of course
participate. The modern form of ownership, the corporation, is a
business extension of the church: the owners of the corporation,
like members of a church, are not personally liable for the debts of
the organization.
Why include a chapter on the economy in a book on liberation
theology? Because the Marxist liberation theologians have made
economics the most important aspect of their theology. They follow
Marx, who made the economic mode of production the bedrock
foundation of all society and of all social analysis. The Marxist
liberation theologians hate the free market. They hate self-government.
They promote the satanic system of top-down bureaucratic
management by an elite of central planners. Thus, their
views on the economy are as satanic and as dangerous as their
views on the individual, the family, the church, and the state.
The Prohibition Against Theft
It has long been recognized by Christian commentators that
the Biblical case for private property rests more heavily on the
1. Gary North, The Sinai Str&e~: ~conornics and the Tm Commandments (Tyler,
Texas: Institute for Christian Economics, 1986), ch. 3.
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